The ever-stylish Simply Jolleen & I had a lunchtime photo shoot in Old Town a couple weeks ago. SUCH a fun time! She was dancing & leaping across open grassy space, down by the docks.
A beautiful day with a beautiful friend.
a hike to remember
Once upon a time (this past Saturday), Mr. D. and I set out on a hiking adventure on the beautiful White Oak Canyon trail.
About five miles of making our way up and around the Shenandoah Valley trail, he asked me a question that would forever change our lives.
Would you take the adventure with me and be my wife?
As you can see in the photo above, I was just a little surprised/excited. We stopped for a wonderful picnic lunch earlier and I remember saying, "This day just couldn't get any better...except if we had some country music."
What can I say?! I didn’t know that getting some serious bling was an option!!
We had stopped off the main trail to take pictures at a beautiful lookout point near one of the waterfalls. I was bent down, snapping photos and Mr. D was next to me. Then I turned to him and he grabbed my hands, pulling me up to my feet (somewhere along the way, we put my Canon back safely). But then he didn’t get up. Ohmygoodnessisthishappening? was racing through my head.
After I said YES, we began the challenge of putting on the ring without dropping it off the cliff. Although the odds of it falling were probably pretty slim, we were both like, “OK, move slowly. Make sure it only goes on Lorin’s finger.”
Which we successfully did! Newly engageds, 1. Mountain valley, 0.
The rest of the hike down the path was full of giddy smiles, some skipping and what felt like walking on a cloud. Plus handholding – I told him that if he didn’t hold my left hand, I might get distracted by the sparkle and walk right off the trail.
Please ignore the unpainted I've-been-playing-outside nails. We took some pictures on Dean's phone to attempt to send to our families. Hello, no reception!
This was taken by a sweet married couple, just a few minutes before the proposal. Little did I know :)
My guy, exploring the last of the trail's waterfalls while I took pictures/stared at my gorgeous new ring. And just to clarify, that's my camera bag, not a purse, he's wearing.
Since Saturday my favorite thing to do is ask: “Hey, remember when you asked me to marry you?” To which he responds, “Hey, remember when you said yes?”
To the man who holds my heart, our relationship has been so full of love, laughter and adventure to this point. I am beyond blessed that God brought us together. You have constantly challenged me to be more like Christ and filled my heart with happiness. I can’t w-a-i-t to spend the rest of our lives living out His adventure for us <3
by faith alone
Our small group has been walking through a study called By Faith Alone. Each week, we dig into Hebrews 11 and study one of the characters whose very life was marked by faith.
Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Isaac - all men and women who, despite what was in front of them - a sacrifice, a flood, unfulfilled promises - walked with the Lord. Y'all, the passage tells us that faith is "the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen" in verse 1.
What an encouragement to know that generations and generations before us have gone through hardships, tests and trials and through their faith pleased God. Sometimes God calls us to leave our homes, like Abraham and Sarah. Sometimes God calls us to spend 120 years building a large boat despite not ever having seen rain before, like Noah. Sometimes God calls us to rely upon Him for the physical provision of a child, like Sarah. He might call us to a new job, or old relationship, or different plan than we had in mind.
Whatever the circumstance or situation we may be walking in, He is faithful and we can diligently seek Him (Hebrews 11:6). He may ask to us to offer, obey, dwell, wait, move, give, bless, serve, share. And by faith alone, He'll give us the strength to do it.
{May Goals}
April showers bring spring flowers, but what do May flowers bring?
Pilgrims!
It's a silly joke and I'm a girl that appreciates a silly joke. Life's too serious already not to have a good laugh every now and then, am I right?
As I was thinking about a new month, and new goals, my mind went right to marathon runners. Specifically my SG pal Sam. She and hundreds of other fierce competitors woke up early on Sunday, willing their minds and bodies for the Nike Women's 1/2 Marathon in DC.
Talk about goal setting! On a very rare occasion does someone just show up on race day, throw on a bib and knock out 13.1 miles. Instead, there have been weeks and months of intense training, perseverance and stick-to-it-ness to log all those practice miles.
And the runners were awesome. hey moved each foot with deliberation, arms propelling them forward and eyes fixed on their goal: the finish line. I just finished reading Jon Acuff's Quitter and y'all, it has so many challenging points in regards to setting goals - whether personal or spiritual or physical. He says:
"I want us to be a generation of finishers. I want us to be a generation of people who follow through and sew the last stitch or give the final keynote or write the last chapter."
So who's with me? Here are things I want to work diligently toward and finish this month:
May Goals
>> Read Passion and Purity by Elisabeth Elliot (OK, finish reading. I'm already a few chapters in!)
>> Have LMP logo designed! (carryover from April; had to reschedule)
>> Continue only checking email 3x a day max (not including sending out emails, communicating back and forth for personal/work).
>> Continue memorizing a Scripture verse weekly with my Small Group, plus review all past verses
>> Faithfully serve and invest in my SG ladies
>> Knock out details in LMP business plan + pricing package
>> Write 3 things I'm thankful in my Gratefulness journal each day
>> Ask the Lord for an opportunity to encourage or serve someone every day
What are your goals this month? What are you aiming for?
"I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." {Philippians 3:14}
a trip to holland
Two weekends ago, Mr. D and I made our way to Holland in Haymarket. Not the country itself (although my family have a quick layover stop in the Netherlands when I was 13. Oh, the teen years.). We jumped in the car and made our way to the cute town of Haymarket, Va., where Burnside Farms has all the tulips a girl could ask for.
If you're looking for a fun Saturday afternoon day trip, it's so worth the drive. Gorgeous rows of red, yellow and purple (my favorite!) flowers stretched across the farm. We loved exploring the brightly dotted land and picking a few stems to bring home.
I put together two vases with the tulips we had picked. Such a cheery reminder of God's splendor and beauty every time I walked by them.
Here's to a day of fresh flowers and sunshine!
